Warning! This page contains huge spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

J. Daniel Atlas

The Lover

One-fourth of the Four Horsemen, previously a street magician. He has previous ties with fellow Horseman Henley Reeves, and seems to be the somewhat leader of the group. At first glance, Atlas seems to be a Smug Snake who enjoys pissing other people off. (... and that's it).

Anti-Hero: Along with the rest of the Four Horsemen. They're on the run from the police, they rob banks - but they never keep a single cent for themselves. This is emphasised a lot more in the sequel wherein the Horsemen are presented as Just Like Robin Hood, stealing from low life scum and exposing people who take advantage of the less fortunate (it helps that the people the Horseman target in the sequel are much more deserving of their fates).

Anti-Villain: Also along with the rest of the Four Horsemen. They're still criminals who steal money and ruin a man's life, for crimes the owners of that money and the man whose life they ruined had nothing to do with.

"No matter what you think you might know, we will always be one step, three steps, seven steps ahead of you and just when you think you're catching up, that's when we'll be right behind you. And at no time will you be anywhere other than exactly where I want you to be, so come close. Get all over me because the closer you think you are, the less you'll actually see."

Batman Gambit: After boasting that he could read people as well as Merritt, he totally botches a read of Tressler, failing to get anything even remotely right- place of birth, mother's maiden name, first pet's name, anything. Tressler smirkingly corrects him. And therefore gives him the answers to the most commonly asked 'security questions' on his bank account. Indeed, the gambit goes even deeper, as he was loudly offering to demonstrate his skills on the other Horsemen, betting that Tressler would pipe up and offer to be read- thus setting himself up to be conned.

Brick Joke: Henley's weight. It's implied that she broke up with him/resigned from being his assistant because he called her fat for not being able to fit through a trapdoor, while another girl, Rebecca, could.

Later on, when he catches her after she falls from her bubble:

Danny: Oh, so you have lost some weight.

Card Sharp: He pulls off some mean card tricks, sometimes works alone, and used his sleight-of-hand to secretly and quickly switch Dylan's phone with a replacement hacked phone.

However, Dylan knew the whole time.

Catchphrase: "The closer you think you are, the less you'll actually see."

Character Development: In the original movie Danny is constantly smug and assured of himself due to the Horseman's plans all going the way they intended and never fully learns how to work together with the team (to the point that, it's implied, that Henley left the team due to his controlling attitude). However in the sequel, after eating some Humple Pie (specifically The Reveal that he was being used unintentionally as The Mole for the Big Bad all along), Danny learns to be more of a team player and wiling to follow Dylan's lead.

Chick Magnet: Henley is attracted to him, along with that random girl that he almost had sex with. Plus, the slow but sure Estrogen Brigade fanbase that's building up.

Decoy Protagonist: He's the main attraction in most of the movie posters, and Jesse Eisenberg also gets top billing, but the true main character is Dylan Rhodes, though it isn't surprising that many mistake Daniel Atlas for it.

Deuteragonist: Alongside the chief investigator for the Horsemen's crimes, he's the closest to a main character, being the de facto leader of the Four Horsemen.

Dude, Where's My Respect?: In the sequel Danny becomes resentful of The Eye due to living underground for a year after the events of the original movie to the point that he openly complains to a representative of The Eye that he should be the leader of the Horseman and not Dylan. This entitlement comes back to bite him on the ass since The Eye representative was actually the movie's Big Bad using Danny to get information on Dylan and the rest of the Horseman. This experience ends up humbling Danny real quick.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his condescending attitude to nearly everyone he encounters, during their video in the aftermath Jack's death, he chokes up slightly and Merrit has to continue for him. Which was all part of the act, of course, since Jack's death was faked- but during the conversation in the elevator to the roof, he seems to express a genuine fondness for the other Horsemen.

She Is Not My Girlfriend: Earlier on in the movie, both he and Henley deny that they were in a relationship when Merritt points out the obvious tension between them.

Even though he denies it, he sees to still have some feelings for her, depicted when he immediately gets jealous on seeing Henley laugh with Merritt.

He and Henley hold hands before hopping onto the carousel at the end of the movie.

Ship Tease: With Henley. They seem to have been involved sometime in the past, until Danny called her fat for not being able to fit through a trapdoor while Rebecca fit for a year.

They always seem to be paired together, like during their show in New Orleans, and during their heist to steal the transported money, in which they would have been alone lying in an enclosed space for an indefinite amount of time. Ship Tease for the fans? I think so.

During the show in New Orleans, one part of their act involved Henley floating above the audience in a soap bubble, until the bubble pops — and she promptly falls into whose arms? Yes, Danny's.

They Do: He and Henley hold hands before jumping onto the carousel that will take them to the Eye. Furthermore, they somewhat admit their feelings for each other before their last show, while Merritt says that everything was getting too sentimental for him.

Henley Reeves

The High Priestess

Second fourth of the Four Horsemen, and the only female. Was previously J. Daniel Atlas' assistant, until she quit to become a solo act. (Also because he called her fat. Once.) Other than Atlas, Henley is closest to Merritt in the group.

Establishing Character Moment: In the beginning, Henley is chained in a tank of water with a cage of piranhas above her, timed to open if she doesn't make it out of the tank within a minute. She gets stuck, and then manages to disentangle herself — just in time for the cage to open and for flesh-eating piranhas to crash down on her. The water turns red, and then Henley herself emerges, miraculously unhurt, from the booing crowd.

Played straight in her introduction shot, which features her stripping into a glittery swimsuit for an escape act. Subverted as the act would be more effective if she was showing more skin.

Put on a Bus: She left the group between the films due to not being able to deal with Atlas anymore.

Ship Tease: With Danny. They seem to have been involved sometime in the past, until Danny called her fat for not being able to fit through a trapdoor while Rebecca fit for a year.

They always seem to be paired together, like during their show in New Orleans, and during their heist to steal the transported money, in which they would have been alone lying in an enclosed space for an indefinite amount of time. Ship Tease for the fans? I think so.

During the show in New Orleans, one part of their act involved Henley floating above the audience in a soap bubble, until the bubble pops — and she promptly falls into whose arms? Yes, Danny's.

Smug Snake: Not as much as Danny but definitely there - she is very smug while robbing Tressler.

The Smurfette Principle: Only female Horseman in a group of four, and the only main female in the movie asides from Alma.

Written-In Absence: Due to Isla Fisher's pregnency, Henley is said to have left the Horsemen in the sequel, having "growing tired of waiting," and The Eye just gives her the leave. Taking her place is Lula May.

Batman Gambit: His "magic" relies to an extent on people's reactions and their behaviour; his hypnotism trick in New Orleans relied wholly on the fact that Rhodes would shout "FREEZE!", despite being part of the audience and being aware of the trick he had set up.

Of course, Rhodes, being the Fifth Horseman, knew all about the trick and triggered it on purpose.

Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Loves to play with everyone's minds while he is being interrogated. Including those who aren't currently in the room.

"The FBI has a long history of men in dresses! No shame!" [snaps fingers sassily]

Brick Joke: His victims thinking they're part of a symphony orchestra on hearing the word "bullshit".

"FREEZE!" "QUARTERBACK!"

Con Man: He hypnotizes people into revealing secrets in front of their spouses and then blackmails them in exchange for said spouse not remembering.

Establishing Character Moment: Right at the start of the movie, he exposes a man's extramarital affair with his wife's sister, and accepts two hundred dollars to hypnotize her to forget having known.

"You weren't away on business, you were away on Janet!"

He also hypnotizes the man into thinking of him (Merritt) naked instead whenever the man thinks of his mistress.

Merritt: Every time you see or even think of Janet, you're gonna picture me naked. And that's not a pretty sight.

Man: Yeah.

Jack Wilder

Death

"Nothing's ever locked."

Portrayed by: Dave Franco

The fourth and youngest Horseman, as well as the one with the least experience at the time of their recruitment. Treated like a Tagalong Kid by the other Horsemen, his forte is throwing cards, picking pockets, and imitating the voices of others.

Con Man: He's a pickpocket and uses his magic tricks to distract them.

Disney Death: His car exploding is played like a real death, and we see the other Horsemen's "reactions" to it.

Establishing Character Moment: In the beginning, he promises a hundred dollars to anybody who can tell him how his trick works. Someone uncovers his secret, and he promptly pickpockets that guy, proceeding to pay the guy in his own money. Then, he makes a break for it.

Faking the Dead: While being pursued by the FBI, the Horsemen switch the car he was in with an identical model containing a cadaver. The replacement car blows up, leading everyone else to believe that Jack was dead while he went to retrieve the safe.

Keeping Secrets Sucks: Jack feels this way when he realizes that their actions could get them thrown in jail. Also, when trying to protect the secret documents led to his Disney Death, it doesn't sound like fun anymore.

Mauve Shirt: Zigzagged. He's given a bit less development than the other Horsemen, is clearly viewed as the junior member of the act, and his apparent death is treated like an example of this trope. However, not only does his death turn out to have been faked, but his contribution to the final performance- while unseen by the audience- is the only individual contribution that's totally vital to pulling off the last act.

New Meat: Seems to be the youngest and least experienced of the Horsemen.

Nice Guy: He may be a thief and a liar, but he's reasonably nicer than the rest of the male leads.

Thaddeus Bradley

A former magician that came to the conclusion that it is more profitable to reveal the secrets behind magic to a curious audience. He works together with the FBI in order to explain how the Four Horsemen committed their capers.

Break the Haughty: He's a magician-buster, so he makes a living out of doing this. He's exceedingly arrogant about it and it comes back to bite him.

Could Have Avoided This Plot: Thaddeus admits that if he had just talked to Dylan after his fathers death the latter wouldn't have spend 30 years trying to complete his revenge plot. Thaddeus admits that part of the problem was his guilt and shame as well as his grief over his friends death.

Doing In the Wizard: His shtick is spoiling magicians' secrets on television. In actuality, it was all a guise and his real purpose was functionally that of a hype man who brought attention to his friend Shrike.

Kick the Son of a Bitch: Debatable. While he may be a jerk, he most certainly didn't deserve to be framed for the Horsemen's crimes.

Only in It for the Money: Part of the reason for doing what he does; he gets a big paycheck for it and a bigger paycheck is enough to buy him off.

Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: While in prison, he gets access to the Internet, which he uses to warn the Horsemen that they will get what's coming to them, among other things. He turns out to be a good guy, but still.

Stealth Mentor: The second film reveals that not only is he actually a member of The Eye, but he's been secretly guiding Dylan and the Horsemen into reaching their true potential as magicians.

Étienne Forcier

Portrayed by: José Garcia'''

The audience member from the first caper that is "teleported" to his bank, the "Crédit Républicain de Paris"

Hypno Fool: He was hypnotised in order to help the Four Horsemen steal money from his bank.

Arthur Tressler

The financial backer of the Four Horsemen by the time they perform at Las Vegas.

Asshole Victim: It's hard to feel sorry for him, seeing as he's a corrupt and stingy asshole with a big ego. He also doesn't get hit hard; yes, the Horsemen drained one of his bank accounts and publicly humiliated him, but he still has money left over, seeing as he was prepared to pay Bradley 10 million to expose the Horsemen.

Corrupt Corporate Executive: Is quite happy to bribe and intimidate to get his way; as the head of an insurance firm he's also allowed them to refuse handouts to Katrina victims, and Dylan Rhodes' family on the death of his father.

Kick the Son of a Bitch: During their second show, the Horsemen hijack one of his bank accounts and distribute the money to struggling audience members. He's understandably upset about this.

Lionel Shrike

A magician mentioned occasionally during the film, who vanished after a comeback attempt went horribly wrong.

Posthumous Character: He died by drowning after the safe he was in wouldn't open long before the film starts.

Too Dumb to Live: Locking yourself in a safe and having that safe thrown into a river is a pretty dumb thing to do on its own, even more so when the only reason you're doing it is because you want to prove you can to a guy that doesn't even care. Small wonder the insurance company refused to pay out on his policy.

Spoiler Character

The Fifth Horseman aka Dylan Rhodes

The person responsible for gathering the other Four Horsemen together at the beginning.

Disproportionate Retribution: Rhodes ruined Bradley's life and stole millions of dollars from Tressler in revenge for his father's death which they had nothing to do with.

Let's You and Him Fight: Dylan's fight with Jack comes across as this, since they were on the same team the whole time.

Never My Fault: By proxy. His father put his own life in danger and got himself killed for his own mistakes, but Rhodes blames Bradley for revealing his secrets and the makers of the safe he locked himself in for making a safe that warped when submerged in water (because everyone knows that's what safes were designed for, and not being hard to open, nosiree) and the insurance company for not paying out on a borderline suicide.

Obfuscating Stupidity: Pretended to not know what was going on when in actuality he was controlling whole thing from the start.

Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The entire movie is him performing one of these, taking revenge on the ones he believes are responsible for his father's death and cheating his family out of his life insurance.

Stealth Mentor: To the Horsemen. He was the one who came up with the entire plot; they merely executed it.

Underscored with his line towards the end of the film.

Dylan: The real magic is taking 4 strong solo acts and making them work together.

Lula May

After Henley left the Horsemen (due to Isla Fisher's pregnency), Lula steps in her place. She assists the other Horsemen with her tricks, including her amazing ability to fake deaths, and is Jack's love interest.

Establishing Character Moment: When Daniel returns from grabbing some fast food, she does a cheap trick to fake her death, which Atlas recognizes as fake. However, he falls for the indications she left as to her actual location, which allows her to sneak up on him and steal his soda.

Faking the Dead: She's really good at this with her tricks, and it really comes in handy during the climax.

Walter Mabry

The main antagonist of the sequel. He controls a large amount of companies and wants a microchip than can spy on people, and kidnaps the Horsemen so they can steal it for him. He turns out to be Arthur Tressler's illegitimate son.

Bastard Bastard: Not only is he a monster, he's also the bastard son to Tressler.

Cycle of Revenge: He wanted revenge on the people who wronged his father, just like Dylan.

Faking the Dead: He faked his death a year ago, allowing him to anonymously control corporations and governments, a trick inspired by Jack.

Faux Affably Evil: He first appears to be soft-spoken, but when the Horsemen keep guessing on how they got to Macau, he snaps.

"I SAID STOP! You may not be having fun, but I am."

Jerkass Has a Point: He wasn't too far off when he cruelly tells Dylan that his "personal vendetta", which is really just plain Disproportionate Retribution since the people he went after had nothing to do with his father's death, would come back to bite him in the ass eventually.

Overlord Jr.: Arthur Tressler praises him for being a lot like him. Okay, he's really an illegitimate overlord jr., but he still fits the bill.

Parental Favoritism: According to Tressler, he stands out from the other seven legitimate children, who were "sniveling, snobbish, stupid runts."

Faux Affably Evil: Despite his anger toward his brother for everything, he has no problem getting a drink with Merritt, since "if it's free, it's me." Of course, this is more likely just an excuse to mock him for his ploy to stall him.

Hypno Fool: Jack tries this on him, but he fails. Of course, Chase really shouldn't have taught him that it all relies on the element of surprise...

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